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LATITUDE / RICHARD
ith reports this month from Talion on La Reina del Mar's best Baja Bash ever; from Cirque on the beauty and pleasures of Bocas del Toro; from Jack van Ommen on the loss of his second Fleetwood; from Pelagic on taking the South Pacific route home to Portland from Panama; from Moonshadow in Fiji for a second season; and Cruise Notes. Talion — Gulfstar 50 Patsy Verhoeven Easiest Baja Bash Ever! (La Paz, BCS) We had a stellar Baja Bash this year. I had heard reports of cruisers having to pay $7-$8 per gallon for fuel in Turtle Bay. That is totally unacceptable on my budget, so in my best Puddle Jump style of fueling up, I bought four 13+ gallon plastic jugs in La Paz. Add that to my 90 gallons in the tank, and 35 gallons in jerry cans, and I figured I could motorsail to Ensenada even La Reina de Mar, after a if it blew 10-15 good Bash, is getting her on the nose. Ha-Ha face paint ready. I singlehanded from La Paz to San Jose del Cabo, where I picked up my boyfriend Tim Horne for the Bash. After topping off the fuel one last time, we headed around Cabo Falso. The weather site windyty. com showed about 20 knots of wind at Falso, but not too much after that. We encountered the expected 20 knots on the nose at Falso, but because of my previous experience of the wind's backing off after Falso, and windyty's calling for lighter winds, Tim and I kept going. After a couple of hours of low boat speed, windyty.com proved to be accurate once again. The wind dropped to 10 knots or less — and for days. Inside Cedros Island we were even
LATITUDE / RICHARD
Because of reports of high fuel prices at Turtle Bay during this year's Bash, Patsy, aka 'La Reina del Mar', blew on by to San Diego.
blessed with a few hours of sailing at eight knots with the main alone, as the wind was coming from the south! By the time we reached Ensenada, we could see that we had a good chance of making San Diego on our remaining fuel. Just then the wind picked up to 15-20 knots, reducing our boat speed to four knots. Unless the wind backed off we wouldn't make it to San Diego. But we continued on because the forecast called for even more wind later on. We kept one five-gallon jerry can in reserve, and didn't put it into the tanks until one hour out of San Diego Harbor. But we made it. It was a perfect Bash! Doublehanded nonstop in a Talion record-breaking five days! No question a southerly and being able to sail all the way would've been better, but after 10+ years, I know the best Bash strategy: Take on loads of fuel and then wait, wait, wait for light winds. As I write this I'm anchored at San Diego's La Playa Cove for the Fourth of July festivities. Fellow Ha-Ha boats are here, too, and best of all, my daughter Denise and her family are here on their boat, too. I just read about the Wanderer's great canal boat adventure in France with his daughter. Hanging out with family on the boat is priceless! I have crazy-fun crew lined up for both the SoCal Ta-Ta in September and the Baja Ha-Ha in late October. Looking forward to the endless good times! — patsy 07/04/2017 Readers — Doña de Mallorca and La Reina del Mar have nearly 30 Baja Bashes between them. They agree on the strategy of taking lots of fuel and waiting until the wind dies off. Cirque — Beneteau 42s7 Louis Kruk and Friends Mostly the Bocas del Toro (San Leandro) I spent dangerously close to three months — late February through mid-May — cruising my boat mostly in the Bocas del Toro region of Panama. Cirque has been living at Red Frog Marina in the Bocas for just over three years. I’m still amazed and inspired by the beauty of the archipelago. I was finally able to replace my boat’s original main with a
new Doyle 9.5-oz Hydra-Net radial main. But it wasn’t easy. The project started in 2015 when I agreed to have a sailmaker build a new main for me. That didn’t go well, so in November 2016 I contracted with the Doyle loft in Alameda to build the sail to my specs. The specs were sent to Robbie Doyle at the company's world headquarters in Salem, Mass. I’d raced with Robbie years ago aboard the maxi Kialoa III. The sail was designed and the panels cut in Salem, then the panels were shipped to Alameda for assembly. The sail and the battens, the longest of which is 15 feet, were then shipped to Miami. Then they were put in a container that was placed on a ship and sent to either Costa Rica or Panama, I’m not really sure which. After several weeks of delays, I received an email telling me to come to Bocas Town to pick up an 80-pound box with my sail, as well as a 15-ft-long tube containing my five battens. Finally. During the time I was waiting for the sail I was able to do other projects on the